Few games I have encountered so far have had such a big gap between story and gameplay. Lots of games have amazing gameplay with mediocre stories, but I've rarely come across games with this mediocre gameplay, and a story which honestly shook me to my core. Story-wise, I think this may be the best game I've ever experienced. I cannot really go into why without spoiling the game, but trust me when I say that there is something absolutely amazing inside this game. Another huge plus for me was the music. I love the constant use of choirs. I think the choir is an underused component in music, which almost always adds to it, and therefore my favourite songs from the game are "Snow in Summer" and "Cold Steel Coffin", which perfectly reflect the parts of the game that they are used in. I think the characters are another huge plus, because they are so well developed that they frankly put many other RPGs to shame. The gameplay is ok for the most part, with some segments being incredible (the intro for example, something about fighting all of the enemies while listening to "Snow in Summer" felt cathartic to me), but if you want to get all four endings, you have to repeat a lot of events which become boring the third time around. Thankfully, the game skips to a middle point every time you complete an ending, so you don't have to play through it all, but man does it add a lot of dead time. If those problems were fixed, I would easily consider this a masterpiece. I can't really put it at that level, but I would recommend it anyways. The story is just that good.

Well, I can now safely say that another game that has moved me to tears has been played by me.

God damn, this game. Never have I played a Nintendo game with such mature and well-handled themes. Super Paper Mario comes to mind as a game being close, but the story in this game has moments that are even better than that game, and SPM is the game that I consider to be the closes to 10/10 out of all my non-10/10 games. I'm not gonna spoil the hard-hitting moments, as I didn't actually know about the last one, and it hit me like a sledgehammer right in the heart. So, having mentioned that, let's talk about some other aspects instead. This game has one of the best soundtracks I've heard! So many incredible tunes, but the standouts for me must be "Battle Against the Masked Man" and "Strong One". I love the battle system in this game, especially since I am a musician myself, and the battle system require a good sense of rhythm to use it to its full potential. The game also has some really solid boss battles, and I loved figuring out strategies for every boss. But the main thing that kept me constantly interested was the story. I must admit that it took some time to really get going (the prologue is three chapters long after all, which roughly translates to five-six hours of gameplay if I remember correctly), but once I got control of Lucas, I was basically hooked! Like I mentioned, it contains some really heartbreaking moments, so proceed with caution if you are interested, because if you stay, you will get a game like no other!

I would say that the general thoughts about this game (i.e., that this is a good movie, but a bad game) are true to some extent, but there are some things that I think could only have been executed by keeping this a game instead of a movie. For instance, the winter chapter is amazing and highlights how good the stealth in this game can be when the environments are good enough to compensate the core mechanics, and it is good precisely because it is playable. The battle against David was a bit of a pushover, but I still found a lot of satisfaction in it. The gameplay overall is a different story however. It goes from really good (like I mentioned before) to ok (which it is most of the time) to horribly mediocre (i.e., that god damn sniper section). The story is where this game really shines. I think it characterized the main characters really well, and the moral ambiguity of the final chapters is really amazing. I found myself constantly questioning whether the main duo really were good guys, which is exactly what I think the intention was.

The biggest surprise factor was actually the soundtrack, which contains some really strange instrumentation including what sounds like a clock playing, a strangely tuned string instrument, and lots of creative ways of using the guitar. It wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. I imagined it to be what most triple A games go for nowadays, which is the good old Hollywood blockbuster soundtrack, with forgettable orchestral music without originality. The beginning was probably the worst part of the game, minus the opening sequence where you play as Sarah. It takes a long time to really get going, and it took me a while to actually start to really enjoy the gameplay. But when it did kick in, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

Overall, a pretty solid game with interesting soundtrack and a great story, which unfortunately is held back a bit by its gameplay.

Holy shit, what a game. I went in to this expecting to sink 40 hours into it or something, but I felt satisfied enough to complete it after no less than 63 hours. In that time, I completed almost everything there is to complete + the DLC. And I had such a blast that it's not even funny! The gameplay is some of the most satisfying I've ever played. It has such a good progression system where you actually have to fail to advance. I loved the interconnected world, and every time I found a major shortcut, I was just thinking: "this game is fucking genius". And the bosses are some of the most satisfying bosses I've ever met, my favourites being the Four Kings, Gwyn, Artorias and Manus. I didn't really like the fight against Ornstein and Smough, but defeating them was one of the most satisfying moments I've ever experienced in a video game! Can't praise this game enough, it's a bloody masterpiece!

A classic game for me. Used to play this and its sequel for literally hundreds of hours on the PSP. Now I played the remastered version on PS4 and I have to say that it still holds up well today. The music of this game will either make or break the game for you, since it's literally based on rhythm. For me it made it, having some really catchy music, especially in the mini games. Gameplay-wise, this is one of the most unique RPGs I've played. You create your characters, change your weapons, optimize and things like that. But it's rhythm based, so you have to choose the correct beats to play, which all have different effects on your army. It's seriously addictive to just grind away to get the best possible classes. One thing I like about the game is that you can actually lose your Patapons if you do not pick up the cap that they drop when they die in battle. And some bosses can kill them, cap and all. But my favourite thing about this game is definitely the aesthetics, which are also very unique. But everything feels so tied in to these aesthetics, and they make this game feel a lot more life-filled than it would have felt without it. I recommend getting a PSP just because of this game and Patapon 2!

A pretty cool game. I must say that it starts out pretty badly, but as soon as you've gotten past the first level, the game becomes a lot more fun. One of the biggest pros in the game is actually something that should be a con, which is that the game doesn't really punish you for your actions. It is not necessarily a good thing in games, but here it is incredibly consistent with the theme of the game. The level design was mostly ok, but the biggest enjoyment came from the concept of the game, which is something I'm not gonna spoil here, as it is explained first during the ending. The game does have a lot of flaws though, mainly in the music, which is pretty preachy, and in the fact that the character you are controlling is moving a bit too slow for my tastes. It was a cool experience overall though.

Probably my favourite of the 2D Mario games except for SMB3. It contains the most interesting mechanics, and is without a doubt the hardest. It is so relentless that I had to use save states to not spend 300+ hours on completing this game, because you get thrown back to the beginning if you get a game over and waste all your retries. The music in this game is damn good, especially the main overworld theme and the final boss theme. The level design is overall pretty solid and completing levels is very satisfying. A pretty good game.

Pokémon Pearl Version was the first Pokémon game I played and owned. I love it so much, so naturally I was pretty excited when Nintendo announced Pokémon Platinum Version. I love all of the changes added to this game, and therefore, I love this game even more than Pearl. First of all, the game is faster than Pearl when it comes to battles, which does help making the game feel more smooth. Secondly, the story got an overhaul to the point that there is no reason to play Pearl for its story ever again. Now the story elements and battles are more exciting and more epic. Plus, it resulted in some amazing tunes, like Distortion World and Battle! Giratina, which are some of my favourite tunes in the entire series. Beating the champion at the end was extremely satisfying and I look forward to the post game content!

I've been a fan of the Legend of Zelda series for quite some time. I've never played many of the 2D Zelda games though, only like Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. So I figured it was time. And after a really long time, I have completed A Link to the Past! And it was a lot of fun at some points. The dungeon design was mostly good, especially in the final dungeon, and I really liked some of the songs, my favourites being the final battle theme and the shop theme. Something that really dragged the game down though, was the Skull Woods dungeon. I don't think I've ever been that frustrated at a game. It seemed like the dungeon was designed to drive me crazy with frustration. And well, it worked. Another thing that bugged me is that you sometimes get stuck on something and cannot advance until you have found a certain item. I've never liked this design philosophy. Its obvious purpose is to make you explore the overworld more, but if you dislike the overworld, you are not gonna want to explore it, and if you like it, you will do that anyways. It isolates players who dislike the overworld, or exploration. Exploration should only be used to give you optional upgrades in this kind of game, not to give you things required to beat the game. In all cases but one where this happened, I just looked up the answer on the internet because I really couldn't bother exploring. So, to summarize, momentarily great gameplay and some major annoyances are my thoughts on this game.

Wow.

I didn't know video games were capable of doing what this game managed to do. I mean, until playing this game Metal Gear Solid 2 was my favourite game of all time, but I am seriously reconsidering that after playing through this game. I don't think any game I've ever played has had a story that is as perfectly executed as this one. Scratch that, I can think of few stories in all of media that could match this one. It goes so well from joy to humour and then to despair and sadness. I have never felt this moved by a video game before, and I don't know if I ever will. The ending actually moved me to tears, which is something no other video game ever has managed to do. Thankfully the game also manages to deliver gameplay that feels smooth, entertaining and tight. And the soundtrack is simply incredible, with amazing instrumentation, progressiveness and melodies. I cannot recommend it enough. It's such a masterpiece that it is incredible in spite of this below average port. If you are interested in action games or storytelling in games at all, you need to get this one. It is that good.

I am astonished. This is one of the best games I have ever played for PC. It is like BioShock, but even better! I love the combat, the level design, the exploration, the many options, and the plot! And let's not forget that incredible soundtrack, my favourite tunes being "Engineering", "Hydro 1" and "Ops 2". This game blew my mind, and it's easily the best game from 1998! I haven't been this hooked to a game since I played MGS2, and that is saying something considering that that is my all time favourite game. If you want a game where you can customize your character in a lot of different ways, that is difficult, but gets easy to the point of being satisfying as hell when you get good at it, and that has a kickass soundtrack and some of the best villains in video game history, then you need to play this game!

Another game by Toby Fox that totally has nothing to do with Undertale. Despite having very similar artstyle and character designs. It's like the Majora's Mask of Undertale, except when it comes to Undertale, that game is more like the Majora's Mask if you know what I mean. This game had its moments, especially in the final battle, but it felt like an inferior version to Undertale, even if it had an expanded battle system. I liked the mechanic where you had to prevent Susie from killing the enemies a lot. The game felt very long though, even though it wasn't that long, clocking in at about 4 hours. An okay experience with a pretty good soundtrack!